Nicole Lane is a graduate of the Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz school of romance. The grander the drama, the higher the stakes, the better! This balances out the fact that her everyday life with her little family in North Texas is extremely mundane and quite contented.

Pros:
1. Illustrations are cute
2. Will definitely appeal to your kid if they’re a train-lover
3. Text and story are simple and yet engaging enough to be age-appropriate and encourage your child to start to read along with you

Cons:
1. By its nature, the closeness of the “Huff” and “Puff” names will have you (and sometimes your kid) messing up the roles sometimes

In terms of books that are this level, and are meant to encourage your young one to read, this is the one we’ve had the best luck with. While “Digger the Dinosaur” is cuter in terms of illustrations, this is the story my toddler actually tries to repeat and learn words for… Also, though I (as a parent) like some of the “Biscuit the Dog” books, it’s not something my kids have engaged with.

Great for 2.5-5 year olds
This is a very average “My First I Can Read” book.

Pros:
1. Illustrations are really cute — both of my toddlers are big fans of the cute “Digger” and “Stego” dinosaurs
2. The storyline (clean your room before you can play) is easy to follow and easy for even toddlers and pre-k/kindergarten kids to relate to.
3. The CAPITALIZED words that Digger keeps confusing are good for kids trying to learn to read

Cons:
1. The story just isn’t as well-written as some of the other “My First I Can Read” books
2. For whatever reason, though my kids like the pictures, they don’t really try to read along as much as with other books in this serious (which I count as a serious pitfall… considering the point of these books) — my guess is that there’s just so much dialog that the kids are too busy following the dialog to try to read along?? Though I’m not sure…

Overall, it’s an average entry for this reading level/series. We’re happy we have it, but it’s not the best in terms of encouraging our kids to read more…

#1 NY Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy talks inspiration, romance, and research, plus tells us about how the Callaways’ lives resemble her own… Below is an interview with the author, courtesy of Novel Publicity Book Tours.

What do you love most about being an author?

Being able to tell stories! I’ve been a voracious reader since I was a child, and having a job that allows me to create my own worlds, characters and plots is a dream come true.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Even today, machines that mimic human thinking surround us. As the intellectual feats of computing machines grow more and more astounding, will there be a day when their apparent intelligence approaches, or even surpasses, that of human beings? And what if these machines then become conscious, self-aware?

Get this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies.

Thirteen authors confront the question of the Singularity: at and beyond that point of time when A.I. becomes more than simply a human construct. From first awareness to omniscience, these original short stories explore that territory where human intelligence comes face-to-face with what is either its greatest hope, or its greatest threat.

Kat, a “slightly” psychic sixteen-year-old, begins having disturbingly persistent dreams. Dreams of a yellow scarf – with a seeming life of its own – which taunts her and haunts her every dream. Dreams about Della, a fellow classmate, who to this point has remained all but invisible to any and every one at school. Kat eventually comes to the realization that until she unravels the mystery surrounding that “dagblasted” creepy yellow scarf and this girl she hardly knows, she’ll not have another night’s rest. What Kat soon discovers is that she is the only person in Della’s life (including the girl’s mother and stepfather) who recognizes – or will admit – Della has simply vanished, gone “splitsville”! And Kat is helpless as her life becomes indelibly intertwined with Della’s – so much so, that she will carry the emotional scars for years to come.

If your little one is interested in insects at all, this is a great book to read to them. My 2-year-old daughter, my 4-year-old son, are both enthralled by it: they love the vibrant pictures, the completely age-appropriate facts (and bite-sized, suitable for their short attention span).

The pictures are bright and wonderfully done, there’s nothing that would be at all scary or off-putting, and though you may not make it through the whole book in one sitting, this is definitely one you’ll get your money’s worth out of, going through one small section at a time.

This is an okay rhyming book. Definitely below the best of Seuess (maybe even below like mediocre Seuss), but better than a lot of what’s up there. It’s well-intentoned and some parts are definitely stronger than others.